Kennesaw State University College of the Arts School of Music
presents
Junior Recital
Christopher Otts, saxophone
Friday, April 26, 2013 5:00 p.m. Dr. Bobbie Bailey & Family Performance Center Brooker Rehearsal Hall One Hundred Twentieth Concert of the 2012-2013 Season Kennesaw State University School of Music Eric and Gwendolyn Brooker Rehearsal Hall April 26, 2013
Summertime George Gershwin (1898-1937)
On The Sunny Side of The Street Jimmy McHugh (1894-1969)
People Like You Reid Anderson (b. 1970)
One Shining Soul Joshua Redman (b. 1969)
Hide And Seek Joshua Redman
Christopher Otts, saxophone Anthony Mancini, guitar Andrew Lastrapes, bass Zachary Evans, piano Robert Boone, drums
This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Mr. Otts studies saxophone with Sam Skelton. George Gershwin - Summertime George Gershwin is an American composer and pianist. Gershwin’s composi- tions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known. Among his best known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, as well as the opera Porgy and Bess. Born in Brooklyn in 1898 to Jewish immigrant parents from Odessa, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire), Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark and Henry Cowell. He began his career as a song plugger, but soon started composing Broadway theatre works with his brother, Ira Gershwin, and Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris to study with Na- dia Boulanger, where he began to compose An American in Paris. After returning to New York City, he wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and the author DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, Porgy and Bess is now considered one of the most im- portant American operas of the twentieth century. Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores until his death in 1937 from a brain tumor. Gershwin’s compositions have been used in numerous films and on television, and several became jazz standards recorded in many variations. Countless singers and musicians have recorded his songs.
Jimmy McHugh - On The Sunny Side of The Street One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, Jimmy McHugh is credited with over 500 songs. His songs were recorded by such artists as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland (who died only one month after McHugh), Billie Holiday, Adelaide Hall, Nina Simone, Chet Baker, Dinah Washington, June Christy, Peggy Lee, Deanna Durbin, and Ella Fitzgerald.
Reid Anderson - People Like You Reid Anderson, bassist and composer, is originally from Minnesota. Anderson is best known for his work in The Bad Plus with pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer Dave King. The Bad Plus have played together since 1989; and, in 2003 Colum- bia Records released their major label debut These Are the Vistas. In 1998, Ander- son and his trio (consisting of Iverson, Jorge Rossy, and Mark Turner) released the album Dirty Show Tunes to widespread critical and popular acclaim from the jazz community. A second album, Abolish Bad Architecture, was released a year later with Jeff Ballard replacing Rossy on drums. In 2000, Anderson and a brand new group featuring Andrew D’Angelo, Bill McHenry, Ben Monder, and Marlon Browden released the album The Vastness of Space. This album was a departure from Anderson’s earlier efforts in that it focused more on composition and less on improvisation. The album’s simple, melodic tunes begin to foreshadow the genre- bending that would drive the underlying philosophy of The Bad Plus. Indeed, two tunes off The Vastness of Space would eventually become Bad Plus favorites: “Pre- hensile Dream” and “Silence Is the Question.” Anderson attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and later graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Joshua Redman - One Shining Soul, Hide And Seek Joshua Redman is one of the most acclaimed and charismatic jazz artists to have emerged in the decade of the 1990s. Born in Berkeley, California, he is the son of legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff. He was ex- posed at an early age to a variety of musics (jazz, classical, rock, soul, Indian, Indo- nesian, Middle-Eastern, African) and instruments (recorder, piano, guitar, gatham, gamelan), and began playing clarinet at age nine before switching to what became his primary instrument, the tenor saxophone, one year later. The early influences of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cannonball Adderley and his father, Dewey Redman, as well as The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Earth, Wind and Fire, Prince, The Police and Led Zeppelin drew Joshua more deeply into music. Redman has been releasing albums as a front man since 1991. In addition to his own projects, Redman has recorded and performed with musicians such as Brian Blade, Ray Brown, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, John Medeski, Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Marcus Miller, Paul Motian, MeShell Ndegeocello, Leon Parker, Nicho- las Payton, John Psathas, Simon Rattle, Dewey Redman, Dianne Reeves, Melvin Rhyne, The Rolling Stones, The Roots, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Scofield, Soulive, String Cheese Incident, Clark Terry, Toots Thielemans, The Trondheim Jazz Or- chestra, Mark Turner, McCoy Tyner, Umphrey’s McGee, US3, Bugge Wesseltoft, Cedar Walton, Stevie Wonder and Sam Yahel. Joshua Redman has been nominated for 2 Grammys and has garnered top honors in critics and readers polls of Down- Beat, Jazz Times, The Village Voice and Rolling Stone. He wrote and performed the music for Louis Malle’s final filmVanya on 42nd Street, and is both seen and heard in the Robert Altman filmKansas City.
Welcome to the Kennesaw State University School of Music
The School of Music at KSU has dedicated, vibrant, and talented faculty and staff that are completely devoted to teaching, performing, scholar- ship, and serving our community. It is an incredibly exciting place to study, boasting state-of-the-art facilities with opportunities to produce and explore music in a dynamic place that is ahead of the curve for what it means to be a musician in the 21st century. Our students come from the leading musical honor organizations across the region and are poised to lead the cultural offerings and musical education in our area and beyond for years to come. We welcome you to attend a concert, meet our faculty and staff, and feel the energy and excitement that our students exude. We are fully commit- ted to our purpose as educators, performers, and scholars. We hope that you will find as much enjoyment in our product as we do in producing it. Welcome! For more information about the School of Music, please visit www.kennesaw.edu/music Please consider a gift to the Kennesaw State University School of Music. http://community.kennesaw.edu/GiveToMusic